|
Synopsis
Chéri takes place in the Parisian demi-monde just before the first World War and tells of the love affair between Léa de Lonval, a 49 year old ex-courtesan, and her lover of seven years, the 23 year old Chéri. Chéri is to be married to a woman his own age, Edmée, the innocent young girl he does not love. Chéri and Léa stand on opposite sides of the invisible meridian that separates youth from what’s left of one’s life, and as the opera begins, Léa has just begun to cross it. For though the story is named after Chéri, Léa is its principal character, and Chéri the agent through which Léa confronts the inevitable: not just her loss of Chéri, but, more crucially, the loss of her own youth and the sexual powers on which her identity has always depended.
The affair of Léa and Chéri is doomed because of age, alas. And the depredations of age are always with us, not only when they are an impediment to love, but when we catch sight of ourselves in the mirror or gaze into the faces of the next generation or the one that gave birth to us. It will eternally be a subject that stirs us to reflection, to poetry and to song.
|
Title Information
All information is derived from OPERA America's Season Schedule of Performances and titles databases which date back to 1991. OPERA America is constantly updating this data. If you feel that a work or an artist has been omitted or that information is incorrect, please use the linked forms below. Title Information Form Artist Information Form
Approximate Runtime (hh:mm)
1:50
Number of Acts
2
Musical Style
Through-sung like opera, though written in a vernacular harmonic language closer to the Broadway musical than to contemporary opera.
Vocal & Musical Forces
9 singers, 4 instrumentalists (cl/b.cl/alto sax, violin, cello, synthesizer)
Original Cast
Maggi-Meg Reed (Léa)
Erik Lautier (Chéri)
Elena Shaddow (Edmée)
Marni Nixon (Charlotte)
Peter Clark (Patron)
Lorinda Lisitza (Marie-Laure)
Lucille Patton (Lili)
Lucas Blondheim (Prince Guido)
Charlotte Cohn (The Chanteuse)
|